Terraform
by Laura Harkness
Summary: Ten, Jack, Rose and our new heroine Wil venture forth to help the Terraformers. But as usual all is not as it seems. The road to perdition is often paved with good intentions... And the question is not CAN they save the Terraformers but SHOULD they?
1. Prologue

**TERRAFORM **

**(A Sequel to 'Big Bang') **

**Disclaimer: **what could possibly cause you to imagine that I might own 'Doctor Who' or 'Torchwood'? On the other hand, Wil and the Terraformers are all my fault.

**Prologue**

You couldn't deny the fantastic intelligence of the beings in question. But wisdom was something else. Intelligence is not necessarily packaged with sagacity.

In our universe, the universe of Humans and Daleks and the Time Lords, we'd perhaps call them _Terraformers_ although they terraformed not moons or planets or even solar systems.

No, they were terraformers of the cosmos.

Already once – at least once – they had transformed an entire universe and made it their own. They had altered its physical laws… how it behaved and how it was constructed. The underpinnings of that universe were modified to accommodate their needs, which were very different from those of its native inhabitants. Without a thought they wiped the slate clean and made it their own.

The loss of what had been was staggering, but of no consequence.

They were non-corporeal, inexplicable, almost unfathomable; trillions and trillions swimming in their own perfect sea of oneness.

Two corporals had been allowed to interrupt their relentless progression. Intrigued and perhaps a tiny bit jealous of the pair of beings, they had taken pause.

But they did not intend this pause to last forever… oh no, not at all.


	2. Chapter 1

**TERRAFORM **

**One**

Wil was sitting on a park bench looking down at her feet, which were incased by inline skates. Most humans, observed in such a state might correctly be assumed to be regarding (perhaps) the color of the skates or their condition, or the relative size of their feet while wearing said skates. However, that was not Wil.

Wil was contemplating the ball bearings and what alternative materials might be employed in order to provide better performance. She was also considering variations of wheel size and profile as factors in maximizing speed. There was no doubt room for improvement, particularly in materials science…

A shadow crossed her eyes and she looked up to a see a man in a long blue coat standing above her and smiling, slightly.

"Ms. Beinert?" he inquired.

She smiled in return and nodded her head. Realizing she was still wearing her helmet she quickly removed it and her hair fell around her shoulders. She knew that usually made an impression and she watched the man's eyes take in her face and bright red, and unruly, curls.

His smile grew a bit wider as he leaned over a bit, extended his right hand and shook hers firmly.

"My name is Jack Harkness, I work at Torchwood and I'm the person who asked you to come. Do you mind if I sit?"

"Please do," Wil responded as she shifted slightly to her right and then turned to face Jack.

"We don't have a lot of time," he continued. "I know quite a lot about you – born in Germany; father a distinguished professor at the Free University of Berlin, sister an accomplished musician; got your first Doctorate at the age of sixteen from a University in Prague; your second and third Doctorates are from Universities in the U.K.; your recent research interests include work with the High Energy Stereoscopic System team on super-massive black holes; you are fluent in six languages and competent in several others; you speak English flawlessly."

"Not bad," Wil said dryly.

"We also know that like many prodigies you had a difficult childhood. You missed all the social events and difficult phases normal teenage girls go through. While you are smarter than any three combined run-of-the-mill geniuses I might pull off the street, you are also argumentative, combative, stubborn, arrogant, non-conformist and probably not a little insecure."

Wil's eyes got slightly wider and she felt her face flushing.

Jack's blue eyes sparkled. "And by the way, that's just what I'm looking for. How am I doing?"

"Um, fine. You're doing fine. You've done your research and called my references. And you have the advantage."

"I'm Captain Jack Harkness and I run the Cardiff branch of the Torchwood Institute. You may think you know something about us, but you really don't. We're a covert organization with a secret mission. We are separate from the government, outside the police and beyond the United Nations. Once you join us, Torchwood becomes your life twenty-four/seven. It is a good life but I won't fool you, it's not for everyone."

Jack's eyes scanned their surroundings and then he looked back at Wil. "At this point you can turn me down and I'll erase our meeting and this conversation from your memory. You won't remember a thing and we'll send you back to your life and job in London. I'll even patch things up with your Department Director. But if you say 'yes' there will be no looking back.

"Do you have any questions?"

"Just the one: what about my turtles?"


	3. Chapter 2

**TERRAFORM **

**Two**

The Doctor was in a funk and Rose had no idea what to do about it. He would wander around the TARDIS, muttering to himself, occasionally kicking an innocent inanimate object. She tried to ignore him by reading, but the muttering and the incessant pacing interrupted her concentration. Besides, she felt badly for him and wanted to figure out how to help.

At first she thought it had been the wedding she'd forced him to attend. Rose had been one of Teresa's bridesmaids and she had thought it might be enjoyable for The Doctor to interrupt the constant stream of death-defying, galaxy-saving situations they seemed to find themselves in and simply have a little fun.

At least it seemed simple.

Isn't that what she'd told him? "Come on, it'll be fun! Everyone will be having a good time and there will be food and music and dancing…

"Besides, I really can't go without a date, and who else am I going to ask?" She'd pouted just a bit and he'd grinned and consented.

During the wedding it had seemed that things were going well, at least at first. The Doctor had told her she looked beautiful in her floor length gown, and dressed in his best suit he offered her his arm as they went from the TARDIS to the church. She sought him out as she walked down the aisle and he'd flashed a dazzling smile and winked.

But then, at the reception he'd sat in a corner, alone. She had asked him to dance, but he refused in a way that made it clear the issue was closed. Out of the corner of her eye she'd glimpse him sitting, alone; apparently staring at the old seventies disco ball that was hanging from the ceiling. Rose could tell he was miserable, and so she was miserable, too.

As soon as she could gracefully take her leave from the party she walked over and touched his shoulder, "Let's go home," she said, and they did.

And ever since, he'd been in a fugue. All the normal little tricks she'd learned over the years had failed to raise his spirits. She even tried to annoy him, just a bit, with prattle about planning family holiday visits and such, but he didn't take the bait.

Finally, at wit's end, she'd put her hands on her hips and said somewhat bitterly, "I'm sorry I made you go to Teresa's wedding! I won't ask you to do such a thing again!" and loudly stomped away.

That seemed to break him out of his mood, at least temporarily, and he followed her, apologizing. "I'm sorry! It wasn't… it isn't that! It's something else entirely and it is not your fault. It has nothing to do with you or with Teresa. I'm sure it was a wonderful wedding and a fun party and I hope they have a lovely life together…"

She turned to look at him, her eyes full of concern, "Well, what is it then? Can't you tell me?"

His answer was five one-syllable words. So terse but yet so heavy with meaning: "We have to find Jack."

Rose knew immediately, then, what it was about. He'd told her everything, of course, over time. It had taken her awhile to pry the tale out of him, especially the most difficult bits. She'd had to be very patient and allow him the time he needed to tell the whole story.

Plus, it had been painful for her to hear, because she'd not been with him. Her brain, of course, realized it had been very fortuitous that it had not been her, but Jack instead, who'd been his companion. She could not have done for The Doctor what Jack had been able to accomplish – not that she wouldn't have wanted to, but she would have been incapable of harboring a micro singularity, much less releasing it, from a piece of jewelry worn on around her wrist.

But although her brain understood, her heart still ached. She could not abide the thought of The Doctor being without her in a dangerous situation. The idea of trusting his precious life to someone else, even if that person was Captain Jack Harkness, was simply unacceptable to her, and it hurt.

Still, if it was Jack that he needed to see, then Jack it would be. "Cardiff!" she exclaimed. "We've not been there in awhile, let's go!"


	4. Chapter 3

**TERRAFORM **

**THREE**

Doctor understood when he mentioned Jack's name that Rose's brain would shift into overdrive. It had taken several emotive days to describe to her what had happened to the Captain and him. In part the story was such a long time in the telling because he was still processing the events. In his own mind parts of what had occurred were crystal clear. He remembered precisely his many discussions with Jack and his communications with the TARDIS.

And yet, there were fragments which were incredibly hazy. The exchanges with the beings that had come from before time, space, matter, and energy felt almost dream-like. Worse, it seemed as time passed those hazy dreams were becoming more and more obscure. For a human, the murkiness would be most disturbing, for a Time Lord it was unimaginable and unacceptable. He'd never before experienced such a lack of clarity.

The Doctor had not been totally truthful with Rose, and it hurt to admit it, but in fact it _had_ been the wedding, to be precise the disco ball at the wedding reception, which had so distressed him. Of course in retrospect it was quite obvious what the problem was – the silly and anachronistic thing had reminded him of the spacetime device in the TARDIS. A device as old as the TARDIS herself, if not older, and which was now gone forever because he'd consumed its precious singularity in an effort to cross the boundary separating the current universe from the universe preceding it.

There was absolutely no _physical_ similarity between the tacky disco ball and his beautiful, but now utterly defunct, spacetime device. But as he sat and watched the disco ball's tiny mirrors hypnotically reflect myriad points of light around the room he realized there was something terribly unsettling, something very incorrect about what had transpired when he'd last been with Captain Jack Harkness. There was something disquieting about his shadowy recollections of that dreadful, yet all-consuming experience.

He also came to realize that he desperately needed Jack.

The Doctor found this all very unsettling. First, it was unusual, to say the least, that he so very much wanted to see Jack. In fact to feel such a compelling urge was unprecedented. Second, while he had believed it would be the Captain who'd have problems dealing with their joint destruction of an entire race of beings, in truth _he_ was now suffering from it far more than he'd expected. Moreover, his disposition was _not_ improving but becoming increasingly distracted and disassociated. Third, something about all of this seemed just so very wrong – wrong in so many different ways and on so many different levels. All of this strangeness coalesced and conspired to leave him feeling more than a little out of control.

Then he looked at Rose, who was as ever patiently waiting for him to speak, and he was gladdened and encouraged. No matter what these odd thoughts were telling him to do, he would always want her at his side. She was his touchstone.

He took a huge breath, dusted himself off mentally and whirled round toward the console. "Right! We're off! Cardiff here we come!"

As the TARDIS engines came to life, The Doctor had a brief thought of Jack, and whether or not he'd be glad to see them. No matter, the choice had been made. But the question was: the choice to do what?


	5. Chapter 4

**TERRAFORM **

**Four **

Wil had been sitting in the same room, surrounded by document boxes, for days. Every so often a sweet man, one of her _new_ colleagues she realized with a start, would quietly pad in and leave food, tea or something clean to wear. He'd smile kindly at her and pad out just as silently, taking leftovers and laundry with him. His name, she knew, was Ianto Jones, and he came up repeatedly in the recent case files she was reading.

She'd been astounded to learn the case files went back to the 1800's. The documents were all pristine, neatly stored and organized. She'd started at the beginning, and had made her way through them all once, and was now re-reading the more current files a second time.

The reading itself, to say the least was riveting. At first she thought it was a joke – some huge, terrible, insane joke being played on her by someone she'd inadvertently insulted in school, or at one of her jobs.

That thought didn't last very long, though. The events described were too horrific, the pictures too realistic, to not accept as fact.

At one point she started wondering what the hell they would be wanting with her. The self-doubts spiraled and she desponded at the same time she continued plowing through the files. All of them, from the nineteenth century on, were incredibly brave and fearless. Neither term, she felt, described her.

Worse, she'd not seen the Captain again, not since he'd deposited her, with the boxes, and advised that she might want to do some "background reading."

And she suddenly wanted very much to see him.

Once, the door had opened and it was Ianto carrying a small glass aquarium. He placed it on the table next to her, along with a shaker of food. At the time it hadn't even occurred to her to inquire as to how he knew where they had been, and how he managed to get into the hotel room that she'd leased. She was, simply, relieved to see her friends, Sampson and Delilah; at the moment the two turtles were taking exercise, freely crawling around the tile floor. Every so often she'd check their progress and make sure they'd not gotten snagged by something or another.

She put the file folder down and watched the turtles. They made comforting tiny little clicking sounds as they moved about, motivated by whatever drove them. Sampson and Delilah had very little fear, she reflected – nothing in their lives had given them any reason to be fearful. They had never encountered a predator. She'd acquired them when they were very young and had always cared and provided for them. Even then, she thought, if they encountered something that did frighten them, they could instantly retreat into their shells.

It made her feel exposed -- she had no shell into which she could withdraw, and neither did the people she had been reading about in the case files. Many of those people had met terrible deaths while attempting to fulfill the Torchwood Institute's mission of researching and combating alien threats, and acquiring alien technology. And they'd been terribly young when they died…

"Alien tech," she said out loud. She'd been keeping a mental list of the various devices that had been described in the documents. Weapons and probes and gadgets and widgets that were centuries if not millennia beyond the current state of earth science; many were locked up, inaccessible, and rightfully so, she thought. But others were used by the Torchwood staff on a daily basis. She was fascinated by them, of course, what scientist worth her salt wouldn't be? Perhaps it was for the technology that they wanted her, although she wasn't sure that made sense. Certainly there were others who would be more capable of evaluating alien tech.

"Be careful what you wish for," Wil said to herself as the door opened and Jack strode in. She noticed his eyes scanning the floor and instantly knew that _he_ knew about the turtles. She wondered if he'd been watching her, but then chastised herself for being naive – of course he had been. While she'd accepted entry into their world, they'd likely not totally accepted her yet and had watched her reaction to the case files – she knew that's what she would've done in their place.

"How are you doing?" Jack asked as he sat down.

"I'm good. Ianto has taken excellent care of me."

Jack leaned back and laughed, "Yes, he does that very well. Do you have any questions?"

"About a million."

Jack smiled and Wil found herself smiling in return. There _was_ a reason she'd so wanted to see him – he made her feel at ease.

But his next words did not.

"Well, you can ask me one or two as we go – grab your coat because we're leaving." He stood up and motioned for her to do the same.

"Um, okay, but what about…" She motioned at the turtles.

"Ianto will take care of them; he's good at that too." Jack offered her his arm and led her out the door into what he'd told her was called "The Hub".

"Shoot," he said to her.

"What?"

"First question."

"Oh. Well…" But before she could respond Wil suddenly realized they weren't in The Hub any more but standing outside, in the bright sunlight. She blinked at Jack in surprise and he simply explained as he propelled her along, "Transporter. You were saying?"

"What do you want with me?"

"I want you to meet two people."

Wil was more confused than ever. In fact she was feeling a little faint but put it down to not having walked more than a few steps in the last several days; she was long-legged but nevertheless having trouble keeping up with the Captain's pace.

"What two people?"

Jack abruptly stopped and pointed at a tall, slender man in a long brown coat and a blond woman in a bright pink hoodie. They were standing by an odd looking blue box. "Those two people."


	6. Chapter 5

**TERRAFORM**

**Five**

Rose was relieved to see Jack, and more reassured than she expected to be, but she wasn't sure _at all_ about the tall, willowy, red-haired woman following in his wake. The woman appeared to be a bit shell-shocked as Jack quickly guided her towards the TARDIS. He stopped for a moment and pointed at them, which gave Rose a chance to surreptitiously glance at The Doctor, whose face was, as usual, unreadable. He had taken some amount of care to settle himself in a relaxed stance, which was in itself perhaps significant, but there was little time for Rose to contemplate it. Jack and his mystery guest were upon them.

"Captain," said The Doctor.

"Doctor," was the response.

"And who might this be?" The Doctor asked, overtly inspecting Wil.

"This is Wilamena Beinert, but don't call her that if you don't want a swift kick. She likes to be called Wil, and she's an accomplished particle physicist. She also climbs mountains, plays the cello, likes turtles and is a Taekwondo black belt. She's our newest employee at Torchwood."

"Wil, accomplished, physicist, Torchwood," repeated The Doctor, nodding his head. "Brilliant! I'm The Doctor and this is Rose Tyler." He flashed Wil his most dazzling smile. "I'm very pleased to meet you!"

Wil stood, trying to hide her shock. She'd read plenty about The Doctor in the Torchwood case files, and none of it good. According to the documents he was menace at best, an evil wizard at worst. He was also, as far as she knew, the first alien she'd ever met, but she didn't hold that against him. Not all aliens would be bad, certainly, but still... She wasn't sure if she should offer to shake his hand or turn and flee.

Jack noticed Wil's "deer-caught-in-the-headlights" look and jumped in, always the hero: "Rose, why don't you take Wil for a brisk walk while The Doctor and I catch up? She's been cooped up in a room at Torchwood for nearly four days and could probably use a little exercise."

Rose looked at The Doctor, nodded back to Jack and sweetly smiled up at Wil's green eyes. "Come on then, let's do a quick stroll so the boys can have their chat."

After they were out of earshot, The Doctor flashed his eyes at Jack, "Captain, what's she doing here?"

Jack grinned, "Straight to business, no hug first?"

"No hug, Jack."

"Okay, well, remember Einstein?" Jack's eyes darted towards the direction that Rose and Wil had taken. "She's him."

The Doctor scrutinized Jack's face, "She's Albert Einstein?"

"No, she's not _the_ Albert Einstein, but she's certainly as gifted as he was, if not more intelligent. I think she may be more socially inept, too, but she's young, very young."

"Well that's nice, she'll get on well with Rose," The Doctor responded darkly.

Jack chuckled. He'd known from the start that it was risky business bringing another woman into Rose's "house".

"Doctor, I believe Wil can help us."

An eyebrow shot up, "Do you now?"

"Yes."

"And do you think we need help?"

"Yes, I do. I know we do."

The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back on the balls of his feet, examining Jack closely. He was unaccustomed to asking for help, but this was Jack after all, and well… "You're right, of course. But is she the one?"

Jack sighed, "She has to be, there's no one else who comes close."

"What does she know?"

"She's read all the Torchwood case files from the 1870's to the present in three days." The Doctor made an impressed sound and Jack continued. "But she knows nothing of the case at hand, I kept that from her because I want you to tell her yourself; plus I think the storytelling may help you to gain her trust – right now having read the files she probably thinks you're the devil incarnate. Ha! Little does she know…" Jack's voice trailed off, the pain and guilt apparent to The Doctor's well-tuned ear.

The two men were quiet for a moment, the silence of a deep friendship that needed no words.

Finally, the Doctor smiled, and opened his arms wide. "Come here, Jack, give us a hug. You've done good!"


	7. Chapter 6

**TERRAFORM **

**Six **

Rose and Wil were standing in line at a coffee place, waiting to order and holding a conversation that should not have been held in public. They'd already fallen into a kind of shorthand so as not to alarm anyone overhearing them.

"He's not, you know, not at all what those documents say, those things you read," said Rose.

"How do you know?"

"I just do, I've travelled with him long enough to know."

"How long?"

"Long enough!"

The queue inched forward.

"How could they have gotten him so wrong?"

Rose considered, "Partly ignorance, partly jealousy, partly I think because he wants it that way. He doesn't want to be acknowledged, he doesn't even really want to be noticed. He just wants to be allowed to continue doing what he does."

"And what exactly is that?"

Rose lowered her voice to a whisper, "Protecting the earth, saving the galaxy, preserving the universe."

Wil looked at Rose's face and almost wanted to laugh but the woman was absolutely and intensely sincere. And she believed her. Wil was a scientist and believed in what she could see and hear, and it was clear that the woman in front of her was being truthful and open.

The two women were at the counter; Rose ordered a skinny latte and a double mocha with whip and looked at Wil expectantly. Wil had no idea what Jack would want, but on the spot, and on a whim, she ordered him a triple espresso, because he seemed that kind of guy, and an americano for herself. Rose had already mentioned that she had no money and Wil fished through her pants pockets to pay.

They walked back, in silence, each holding two cups. Wil felt calmer than she had since she'd met Jack and looked at Rose warmly. She'd not had many girlfriends growing up, and once she'd chosen her area of study she had been surrounded by men; not many women went into particle physics. She always got along well enough with her classmates, although she was younger than them by many years. Still, she had felt alone a lot of the time. Not lonely necessarily, she rarely felt _lonely_, but she was often alone. She wasn't sure how it happened, but Rose had made her feel like they'd known each other for years. Wil thought it best to not over-analyze, but she knew something special when she saw it.

Returning to The Doctor and Jack, Wil noticed the two men sitting on the ground, backs against what Rose had said was the TARDIS, "Time And Relative Dimensions In Space" is what the files had informed her the acronym stood for. The two men were playing with what appeared to be a deck of cards.

"What are you doing?" asked Rose.

"Playing cribbage!" was The Doctor's response.

Wil looked around for the cribbage board and saw nothing.

"It's there, Jack pointed in the air above his head; the board is there."

Wil still saw nothing.

"Aw!" said Rose. "They're just pretending; there's really no crib board there."

"Speak for yourself!" exclaimed The Doctor as he waved his hand through the air and as if by magic a red peg appeared between his fingers.

Rose and Wil laughed and The Doctor smiled, "Who's got my hot cocoa?" he asked.


	8. Chapter 7

**TERRAFORM**

**Seven**

An hour later all four were sitting on the ground, empty cups forgotten. The Doctor was speaking. He'd been talking for almost the entire time while the others listened, enraptured. Even Wil was spellbound by the tale of the Terraformers. The Doctor had expected her to object or be outright skeptical, but she had, he observed, accepted him totally, and he knew he'd Rose to thank for that.

"We can't let them into our universe; the differences are too profound and go beyond Wil's metaphor of carbon-based versus silicon-based life forms." Brown eyes met green and he continued, "I suspect bringing them over would result in total mutual annihilation."

"Unless," Wil said, "we could create some sort of subspace bubble for them."

"What do you mean?" asked Jack.

"According to The Doctor, introducing them to our version of spacetime would be the cosmic equivalent of a pyrotechnic composition. You know, like a flash powder, combining a metallic fuel such as aluminum power with a potassium perchlorate oxidizer... But the resultant reaction would be cataclysmic instead of merely loud and bright."

"So," said Rose thoughtfully, "we can't let them come. It won't work."

"Unless…" said Wil, "we could find a way to keep them separate. And I think I may have an idea." Wil began drawing imaginary figures on the cement with her finger. "Subspace is a common enough concept in linear algebra describing sets of closed vectors."

"Right, linear algebra," Jack muttered; Wil ignored him and went on as The Doctor smiled.

"But string theory uses the concept, too. It tells us that there are more than four dimensions – at least ten – and probably more, that may or may not affect us and that we may or may not perceive. Subspace, if it exists, lies within the boundaries of these other dimensions and is, for all intents and purposes, disconnected from us. It has a different set of physical laws and, indeed, I might postulate that there could be multiple, perhaps infinite, subspaces with a variety of physical laws. Some researchers have hypothesized that there may be life forms occupying subspace, but that is conjecture, as is, to be honest, string theory and the concept of subspace itself.

"However, if we were to take the theories at face value, we could build an alternate region of subspace for the Terraformers that would co-exist with our universe, but suit their needs."

She paused and then outlined a sphere in the air with her hands. "Creating it would take astronomical amounts of energy, as would entering it."

Wil was quiet, lost in thought, but The Doctor was ecstatic and could no longer contain his enthusiasm.

"_Molto bene!_" he shouted and he leapt to his feet, cups scattering and the others standing in surprise. "I believe I know how we can get those 'astronomical amounts of energy', but it will involve destroying a galaxy…"

The others looked at him in horror.

"But not ours!" The Doctor added parenthetically as he reached for his key to the TARDIS.


	9. Chapter 8

**TERRAFORM **

**EIGHT**

No amount of reading could've prepared Wil for the interior of the TARDIS. Despite herself she nervously whistled a few notes of music quietly as she passed The Doctor, who murmured back, "D major, one of my favorites."

He closed the doors, followed the group to the console and punched a few buttons. Above them appeared a huge three-dimensional star chart. Actually, more than a star chart, it was an elegant map of galaxies, and they were in gentle motion. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and it sang softly as he set it to serve as a laser pointer.

"This is our galaxy, what you commonly call the Milky Way, because from earth it looks like a hazy band of white light in the night sky. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy in what has been named the Local Group, which contains about thirty-five galaxies. The Local Group is part of the Local, or Virgo, Supercluster, which has about a hundred groups and clusters of galaxies. The number of stars in the Milky Way is at least 200 billion and probably more like 400 billion; no one has ever taken the time to do a complete census.

"The Milky Way is one of billions of galaxies in the observable universe." At this point the star map abruptly shifted and The Doctor's audience reached for handholds due to the sudden vertigo.

"While we all know that the earth is not at the center of the universe, we can determine that the distance from the earth to the edge of the visible universe is roughly 46 or 47 billion light years.

"Although Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity states that absolute velocity of any object in space is not a meaningful question," The Doctor winked at Jack, "the Milky Way is moving at approximately 600 kilometers per second relative to the observed locations on other nearby galaxies. That being the case, the earth is travelling more than 51 million kilometers per day and it's amazing my old girl can find the lump of rock to land on it." The Doctor patted the TARDIS console and took a breath.

Wil took the opportunity to interrupt. "But its not the Milky Way we're interested in, is it?"

"Nope," The Doctor replied. "We're looking for a very specific type of galaxy, both similar and different. First, like the Milky Way, it has to have a super-massive black hole in its center. Second, unlike the Milky Way, it must be one of the few truly isolated galaxies, and ideally not gravitationally bound to any other galaxies. And third, _very_ unlike the Milky Way, it must be void of life."

He turned to look at Wil, and was quiet.

Wil cleared her throat and took the handoff. "Well, we know most if not all galaxies in our universe have one or more super-massive black holes at their centers. That's not going to be a big problem. As far as we know, only about five percent of galaxies in the observable universe are solitary. We've mapped them and I believe the stated percentage would be applicable outside the observable universe, but there's no way of knowing for sure. So, that requirement is not impossible but not necessarily easy, either. As for life, or the lack thereof, that's going to be tough, because as far as we know, and correct me if I'm wrong, Doctor, life is the rule, not the exception.

"However," she let her eyes scan the star chart above her head, "there is something that might be worth considering.

"A few years ago I was working with astrophysicists from the High Energy Stereoscopic System collaboration on a distant radio galaxy with a super-massive black hole of three thousand million solar masses. What is unusual about this galaxy is that its center is spewing very high energy gamma rays a million million times more actively than any other astronomical source we've seen."

Both Jack and Rose were looking a bit lost; The Doctor had noticed and explained, "Gamma rays, let alone very high energy gamma rays, cause significant and serious damage to living cells."

"I would hypothesize," continued Wil, "the odds would be very much against any sort of life developing in that galaxy, ever. And did I mention?" Her eyes sparkled. "It's solitary."

"Location, location, location." said Jack.

"The perfect place for a vacation!" Rose responded with a giggle.

"Not to cut short the party," interrupted Wil, "but what are you going to do with it?"

"Well…" said The Doctor, "I would've thought you'd figured that out by now! _We're_ going to use its super-massive black hole to create your subspace bubble, and then we're going to make a long distance call."


	10. Chapter 9

**TERRAFORM **

**NINE**

Jack and Wil had gone to pick up a few things at Torchwood; The Doctor and Rose put their heads together, literally, as they gazed at the console display screen.

During the time that she'd traveled with The Doctor, Rose had become accustomed to the display – it wasn't in English or in any language she recognized, but nevertheless she'd learned to interpret what she saw with some alacrity. It wasn't the TARDIS translating for her, she knew that. Rather, it had been a slow, steady enlightenment within her mind; an illumination that over time had revealed the display's secrets, which were, in reality, secrets of the Time Lord and his TARDIS.

At present the monitor displayed a multi-dimensional representation, accompanied by voluminous amounts of scrolling data, of the galaxy Wil had singled out.

The Doctor had been softly interpreting the information for Rose; she listened carefully, absorbing his words, but then realized she had a very basic question. "What's its name?" she asked.

His train of thought interrupted, The Doctor blinked, then stepped back and looked at her. "I don't know what Wil calls it, probably something ungainly with letters and numbers, but the Time Lords had a name for it, and that name translates, roughly, to 'Enigma'.

"While we're a curious race, we never were curious enough to investigate the Enigma galaxy in any great detail. I think, too, there was recognition more than a small amount of risk would be involved in venturing too close to it."

The Doctor put his hand on Rose's arm and pulled in her a bit closer. "Which is why I want you to consider staying here, earthside. The TARDIS should protect us, but this is still a very dangerous and risky endeavor. You could sit this one out, go visit your mum and hang out with your friends. There's no reason for you to come along and place yourself in unnecessary danger. We are on an errand of mercy, not fighting to save the planet…"

The Doctor looked into Rose's eyes. "Rose, it's an elective."

"You don't want me to come?"

"Of course I want you. I never don't want you to come with me. It's just that I have enough help this time and I don't want to imperil your safety unnecessarily."

Rose covered the hand on her arm with her own and replied with great solemnity, "Undomesticated equines couldn't keep me from coming with you."

The Doctor let out a loud snort, and then covered his mouth as Rose laughed.

"There's nothing I can say, is there?" he asked after recovering.

"You need me," she answered. "And I will never, ever let you go anywhere without me again. You got it? Never!"

Rose reached up, cupped The Doctor's face in her hands, tenderly pulled his head down and kissed his forehead. "_Comprendre?_"

The Doctor snapped to attention and saluted. "Yes ma'am!" Then, glancing at the display he stuck his hands in his pockets and whispered, "They're back!"


	11. Chapter 10

**TERRAFORM**

**Ten**

Jack had a large backpack slung over one shoulder and Wil was carefully carrying a rectangular glass container. As she walked into the control room The Doctor asked brightly, "Are we having soup tonight?"

Wil gasped, but then saw the gleam in his eyes and let out a beleaguered sigh. She knew it was silly and Jack had told her as much, but still, they had been with her for years and she wasn't about to abandon them now.

Rose walked over to Wil and made a couple of empathetic sounds. "I know just the place for these! It's warmer than this room and they'll be quite comfortable and safe, let me show you."

The two walked off and Jack slipped the pack down onto the floor.

"Are we ready?"

"Almost," answered The Doctor. "Just have to go through preflight and all."

"Is she coming?"

"I couldn't stop her."

"Three of us, then! Is that a new record for you?"

"No… no, not really. Well, recently, yes. But no." The Doctor was silent for a moment, remembering.

"As far as sleeping arrangements I'm happy to double-up."

"Jack!"

"All right, all right, you can't blame a man for trying! And by the way, you might want to wipe off the lipstick."

The Doctor gave Jack a dirty look but nevertheless pulled a white handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed his forehead.

"Better?"

"Better."

"Did you bring it?" asked The Doctor.

"Bring what?" Rose interjected as the two women returned.

"A piece of alien tech," answered Jack. He leaned over and pulled a small black object out of his pack. It looked rather like a television remote; it had a display and a couple of raised buttons.

"It's a black hole manipulator; at least that is what we think it is. The Doctor has indicated some familiarity with the device, but Torchwood never actually used it. We typically don't go around messing with black holes. Rules and all, you know."

"Smart rules," said The Doctor, taking the object from Jack. "Black holes are not to be toyed with. Messing around with such a device could result in the instantaneous disappearance of things you hold near and dear. Things like, oh, I don't know, your planet, your solar system or your galaxy."

"Bad juju," said Jack, glad to be rid of it.

Wil had stayed quiet, listening. Her eyes moved from Jack to Rose and then to The Doctor and settled on the Time Lord's face. She found him handsome in a dangerous kind of way; not like the good-looking Jack, who projected a certain amount of familiarity, warmth, ease and comfort. The Doctor possessed a sort of intense animal magnetism, and a Rasputin-like quality – one could get lost in his eyes. Hypnotized by the sound of his voice...

The Doctor interrupted her fantasizing by staring right back at her and asking, "What?"

She wasn't sure what made her say it. She certainly hadn't been thinking it. But as she looked at The Doctor, and then down at the device he held in his hand, it came out almost of its own volition: "Time Lord tech."

"What?" said Jack, turning to look at The Doctor.

"Nah!" was his too swift reply.

But Wil could tell from the look on The Doctor's face that it was true. And so could the others.

"Doctor!" Jack barked.

"Oh, all right, yes, you've got me. Here, look." The Doctor went to the console and held the device slightly above it. There was an odd sort of sound, like a soft sigh, and several tiny cables came up, attached themselves to the device and nestled it into an indentation on the surface. A couple of lights blinked on and the object's display lit up a soft green. There were tiny copper symbols shining on its surface: Gallifreyan.

The Doctor stepped back and made a little bow in Wil's direction.

"You're kidding!" she said. "You mean I was right?"


	12. Chapter 11

**TERRAFORM **

**ELEVEN**

"The black hole manipulator," said The Doctor in high professorial mode, pointing to the object which had become totally integrated into the TARDIS console, "is from another ship, not this one. But it doesn't matter, as Wil pointed out, it is Time Lord tech, and therefore can be and has been easily assimilated by my TARDIS. She knows now what it does and has shared that information with me. Before, I only had only a most rudimentary understanding of what it could do. Now I know it can, among other things, create, destroy, alter, split apart and combine black holes."

Anticipating Wil's question, he quickly continued. "The device requires huge amounts of energy to manipulate black holes, but the good news is it can use the energy of a black hole itself to perform those actions for which it was designed. It is like a perpetual motion machine – as long as we have black holes to manipulate, it will continue to manipulate them.

"It is also an incredibly powerful and dangerous tool. In the wrong hands it could easily destroy our galaxy, if not our universe. That we are even contemplating using it is terrifyingly risky."

The Doctor paused, looking at his companions: the woman he loved more than anyone else in the universe; the man who was his best and most trusted friend; and, a precious, fantastically intelligent human female who he hardly knew but already valued beyond measure.

"The TARDIS will shield us from the gamma radiation ravages of the galaxy, let's call it 'Enigma' because that's what the Time Lords named it, and she should protect us against making any horrible mistakes with the black hole manipulator. But mistakes are still possible; they could be doozies, and we have to help each other avoid them."

"Doctor," Rose said. "You're scaring me."

"Quite right, too. You've been near one on a good day, Rose. Imagine a black hole on a bad day." The Doctor suddenly found himself in the surprising state of having nothing else to say.

"Rose," continued Wil when she saw The Doctor go quiet. "Black holes are the alpha and omega of our cosmic existence. This universe began with a singularity, and will end in one as well. As far as we know, there is no structure in the universe, nothing so huge and nothing so powerful that can withstand the tidal forces of black hole.

"Get too near a black hole, and it is inescapable; get simply close enough, and it distorts the shape of spacetime. You certainly don't ever want to create one by mistake, nor do you want to get pulled in past one's event horizon."

"I'd second that!" said Jack with a shudder. "So we all agree, black holes are bad, but we're nevertheless going to walk right up, knock on its door, and manipulate one?"

"More than one!" exclaimed The Doctor. "My plan is to split the super-massive black hole Wil tells us is at the center of Enigma: rip off a piece to power the formation of our subspace bubble; use another slice to construct a wormhole so we can send a message back, before our universe was created, to the Terraformers; tear off a third, or is it fourth, I've lost count, portion to bring them forward to their new home in our universe; and finally, take a teeny-tiny section of it to replenish my _kaput_ spacetime device – all the while using other chunks to power the TARDIS and the black hole manipulator.

"Let's see, is that it?" The Doctor looked a Jack and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and maybe while we're at it, we'll cut a sliver off and rebuild the personal, private, secret singularity Jack keeps in his wristband.

"Did I forget anything?"


	13. Chapter 12

**TERRAFORM **

**TWELVE**

Wil looked down at her hands and contemplated the music playing in her head. It was a Mozart piano concerto. Something was always playing; what it was depended on her situation and mood. When she was stressed, it was usually Mozart; he'd created some of the most beautiful music ever written by a human. _If he was a human_, she mused, and smiled inwardly. The composition playing would occasionally be of her design. Often, when she awoke, there'd be self-composed music filling her mind, and she believed she shaped music in her dreams.

Wil knew there was music inside of her waiting to come out, and intended, some day, to take a year or two off and try her hand at composing. But there was plenty of time for that in the future. Right now, she turned her full attention back to The Doctor, who was speaking of what was to come.

Jack had been watching Wil out of the corner of his eye. He'd spent several days as a voyeur, observing her every move as she methodically read through the boxes of Torchwood documents; her face rarely betraying what she surely must've been feeling. He'd even watched her, briefly, while she slept. She slept as a child, curled on her side in a fetal position, her hands clasped over her heart; the sleep of the innocent, Jack knew. It had made him warmly sleepy to watch her slumber.

He knew she'd had a very difficult life; not that most humans didn't in some way or another. But Wil had been confronted at a very early age with tests and trials that would daunt any adult. Private tutors and classrooms of one had filled her childhood. Then, University at thirteen; there was nowhere else for her to go having moved beyond for-hire teachers. In college she'd been simultaneously sought after as a genius and shunned as a freak. Still, she had managed to not only persevere but flourish and, Jack considered, was in some respects one of the bravest people he'd ever known. Against all odds she'd been able to assemble herself into a whole, healthy and relatively "normal", whatever that word meant, individual. Jack was also a little jealous – like most smart people her age she was capable of extreme multi-tasking; he wondered what else that brain of hers was doing while she listened to The Doctor.

The Doctor was talking about their arrival at the Enigma galaxy. As he'd said, the TARDIS would protect them from the gamma radiation. He'd place his ship at a safe distance in a perfectly circular orbit around the black hole. The radius of the orbit had already been calculated and set.

"Then," he said, "we'll scan for life signs. I agree that the odds are slim, but we need to be certain when we create the subspace bubble we're not killing anyone!"

"The bubble must encompass the whole galactic disk," said Wil. "How long will it take to scan the entire galaxy?"

"Assuming we don't find anything that requires further investigation, long enough to repair both Jack's wristband and my spacetime device. That will be our first test of the black hole manipulator and it seems the right thing to do, to run small scale tests first, before we create the bubble."

Wil moved to the console and ran her fingers lightly above the manipulator. Its plasma display glowed softly and she could hear it humming, _singing_, almost inaudibly. She wondered if she'd imagined the sound and looked at The Doctor, Jack and Rose. They hadn't seemed to notice.

"Although the manipulator has integrated into the TARDIS," she said to the others, "it still must obtain operating energy from the black hole itself. The TARDIS will be using some of that power to safeguard us, as well as to establish and maintain a perfectly circular orbit, which according to Kepler," she raised an eyebrow Doctor-like, "and all known laws of physics, is impossible, correct?"

The Doctor nodded and smiled. "Correct! We'll be minutely altering spacetime in order to create a stable circular orbit around the black hole. That's our first milestone.

"One of the things I'm worried about is keeping the manipulator powered. Until all the pieces of the puzzle are in place, everything depends on the manipulator.

"Rose, you'll work with Wil to scan for life signs using the console display. Jack and I will focus on the manipulator and test it first on his wristband, since its expendable.

"Gee, thanks," scowled Jack, but then continued. "You mentioned that powering the manipulator was _one_ of the things that worried you. What are the others?"

"Well," said The Doctor, "while I have a better understanding of the device, my understanding is still limited. One of the features of Time Lord technology is that it is bigger on the inside than on the outside – both literally _and_ figuratively – the manipulator potentially does a lot more than I know. We need to watch for unintended effects and consequences.

"My other worries are the things I haven't figured out enough to be worried about. But there's no use worrying about that now, is there?"

"Indeed," said Jack, "that being said…?"

"That being said," The Doctor replied as he started up the TARDIS engines. "_Allons-y!_"


	14. Chapter 13

**TERRAFORM **

**THIRTEEN**

It was dark.

Pitch black.

And totally silent.

Rose waited for her eyes to adjust; when they didn't, she called out: "Doctor!"

"Here," was the answer, followed by, "Wil?"

"Yes."

"And Jack?"

"Yep."

After a respectful pause, Rose spoke up again, "Doctor, what has happened?"

"I don't know."

"Can you find out?"

"Shush! I'm listening!"

Rose waited as long as she could.

"Doctor, do you think we could have a little light?"

"What? Right! Yes, hold on."

A tiny blue light appeared, floating ethereally in the dark.

"Doctor?" the blue light illuminated Rose's face. "Is the TARDIS okay?"

The beam refocused below his face, shining upwards. "She is. She's working very hard at the moment."

"Doctor," the light shined on Wil, who had moved to the console and was looking down. "The manipulator has found a black hole. It's telling me, it's saying that it is now fully powered and it's asking for instructions."

After a moment's consideration The Doctor provided one: "Tell it to assist the TARDIS with life support."

Wil heard the instruction and never doubted the fact that she could execute it; still, she had absolutely no idea precisely how she'd managed it. Nevertheless, a moment later the console lit up, the control room lights came on, warm air started gently circulating, and, very softly, a Bach violin sonata began playing in the background.

"Sweet," observed Jack. "Where are we?"

The Doctor had spun towards the display and was fiddling with a few buttons. "We're there. I can confirm we're orbiting a black hole. All the correct indicators are present: accretion disk, gas jets, and radiation emissions; the TARDIS confirms what the manipulator has told us.

"The gravitational attraction between the black hole and my ship is exactly equal to our centrifugal force. Ha! We're in a perfect circular orbit!"

In her mind, Wil clearly saw the massive black hole, the event horizon at the outer edge, and the point-like singularity at the center. She felt the fantastic acceleration the TARDIS required to maintain its elegant orbit.

Wil voiced what she'd seen in her mind's eye. "It is a _rotating_ black hole, something we'd not realized previously…

"The rotation may be the cause of the very high energy gamma rays, but I don't know that for sure."

All three were looking at her as she stood with her eyes closed.

"The rotation distorts spacetime inside the event horizon even more than we expected. I don't believe this significantly impacts our plan.

"Oh," she opened her eyes and looked down at the console, "the manipulator is waiting for further instructions."

"Right!" said the Doctor, "time to get to work! Rose, Wil: life signs. Jack, take it off."

"Well, Doctor!"

"Jack, that's not what I meant."

"Aw, that's what you always say."


	15. Chapter 14

**TERRAFORM **

**FOURTEEN**

Jack was grimly watching as a bespectacled Doctor examined his revitalized spacetime device.

What had been a burnt-out, useless cinder was now gracefully suspended once again, in all its former glory, from the TARDIS ceiling.

"Do you have to get so close to that damned thing?" Jack growled.

"It's totally safe!" The Doctor responded cheerfully. "Look, it isn't even activated. It couldn't harm a fly."

"I'm not a fly."

The Doctor gazed at Jack and took off his glasses, "I know that, and you're still safe, I promise." He glanced around and added, "Where are Rose and Wil?"

"They've gone to see the turtles. Seems Rose likes animals."

"Yep, I know. She's asked for a cat, but they make me sneeze." The Doctor wrinkled his nose.

"Not a cat person, huh?"

"Cats and I go way back, we have a history that I do not care to discuss."

"Dog?"

The Doctor shook his head.

"Bird? Bunny?"

He threw Jack a horrified look, but then became pensive. Reminiscent, even…

"I had a horse once. I liked it."

Jack grinned, "I suspect with a companion or two always in tow you don't have any need for a pet."

The Doctor flashed Jack a wicked smile and the two men stood comfortably, looking at each other.

"I suppose you're right in a way," The Doctor finally said. "I've enough to care for."

"And care about?"

"That too."

The Doctor softly sighed, "It's time. Rose?" He spoke to the empty air, but a moment later Rose appeared, Wil following close behind.

"What is it, Doctor?"

"The subspace bubble is stable. It is strong enough to keep the Terraformers separate from our universe once we bring them forward, and prevent anything outside the boundary from coming in. It's as good as it's gonna get"

Wil walked to the console and looked down at the black hole manipulator. "Our black hole remains essentially unchanged and is still rotating. The manipulator will create a wormhole through the black hole's inner event horizon and back to the Terraformers. We'll communicate our plan to them via the wormhole; then, we'll have the manipulator bring them forward through the singularity and simultaneously remove ourselves to a safe distance outside the bubble. That's critical. We wouldn't survive once they terraform its interior; and I suspect that will happen instantaneously with their arrival."

While Jack grimaced, The Doctor reached up and touched the spacetime device. "This will allow us to communicate with them once we're on our separate sides of the bubble.

"It's not perfect, but it is as good a plan as any. Are we ready?" The Doctor put on his glasses and slowly examined each of his companions. They all stood motionless, staring back at him, unspeaking.

"I'll take that as a 'yes', then. Everyone assume your positions."

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and the room shifted.


	16. Chapter 15

**TERRAFORM**

**FIFTEEN**

"Crap, this isn't right," thought Wil.

She was standing at the edge of what looked like an immense gold lake, a blood red sky above her head.

The surface of the lake shimmered and moved like mercury. Mercury if it was the color of bullion.

Rose was to her left; Jack, and then The Doctor to her right.

"Wil?" Rose whispered, shakily. "Where are we?"

"I'm not sure, I don't know how it could've happened but I think we might be with the Terraformers."

"You're correct," said Jack, still looking out over the lake.

"But we weren't supposed to leave the TARDIS."

Jack turned to face her, his eyes still reflecting gold. She didn't understand how his eyes could be doing that...

"You're with us."

"What do you mean?"

The Doctor turned and looked at her. His eyes were gold. "We've been waiting for these two corporals to return," he said. "We know them."

Wil shook her head in disbelief. "What do you mean? Who are you?"

"We are whom you seek," answered The Doctor.

"Then we have things to tell you."

"We know those things."

"How?"

Jack now spoke. "Previous to this time we had acquired portions of these beings' minds. We stayed."

Rose reached out with her right hand and grabbed Wil's left. "Where is The Doctor?" she asked.

"He is still here," The Doctor answered, staring at the women's conjoined hands. "We now speak for him."

"What have you done to him?" Rose asked. Wil could hear fear in the other woman's voice.

"Be calm," the two men said in unison.

Rose's nails dug deeper into Wil's palm; the pain felt good.

"Our plan…" said Wil. "We have a plan."

It was Jack again, "Your plan is not our plan. We no longer wish to terraform your space."

"But the subspace bubble…"

"It is no longer necessary."

Wil allowed herself to breathe a small sigh of relief. Maybe they hadn't messed up; maybe it wasn't as bad as she'd feared.

But Rose was still gripping her hand like a vice, and it was Rose who asked the next question.

"You said you had your own plan, what plan?"

"We have no wish to change or harm your universe."

Wil really wanted to feel relieved, but the problem was not what was said but what rather what was unsaid. She needed more information.

"Then what to you want?"

"We desire to experience what you call life. We no longer wish to be non-corporeal.

"We see in the minds of these two beings what we abandoned aeons ago, things we long to experience once again.

"Through them we have come to once again know love, hate, fear, lust, jealousy, desire, fascination, joy, relief, contentment and sorrow.

"In their memories we have experienced peace, war, diversity, enlightenment, devastation, chaos, luxury, security and comfort.

"We intend to pursue all these things.

"You will go to your ship and bring us forward. First you will obliterate the false boundary you have created; but fear not, we will do no damage.

"We do not intend to terraform your universe; instead we will terraform the beings that occupy it."

Damn, thought Wil. It was even worse than she'd feared.


	17. Chapter 16

**TERRAFORM **

**SIXTEEN**

"But you can't!" blurted Rose.

"Shush!" whispered Wil as she squeezed Rose's hand. She needed more time to think.

"I have conditions," she said after a moment.

The Doctor responded and he smiled thinly. "What conditions?"

"I want you to give back the two you've taken."

"You're joking."

"Not at all. You will return them intact and allow the four of us to continue to exist, free of your 'terraforming'." She tried hard to not sneer while pronouncing the last word.

"Not acceptable."

"Wrong. You must accept it. Those are my terms; you already know if you're in The Doctor's head that the black hole manipulation device has been keyed to my mind."

Rose gave a start and looked at Wil.

"I am the only one that can do what you require. There's no one else. Not even The Doctor can demolish the bubble. I created it and only I can eliminate it. And if the bubble isn't destroyed, there is no way you will break free of the perimeter. It is a perfectly and permanently closed system. Nothing you can do will breach it…

"Those are my terms; take them or leave them."

Wil stood and glared at The Doctor trying to convey courage she did not feel. The color of his eyes disturbed her immeasurably. She'd come to think of them as the most beautiful, soulful eyes she'd ever seen, but now they were inhumanly opaque, glowing with a eerie gold light.

"Your terms are acceptable," said Jack. "But do not try to deceive us as this one did. We will not be fooled again."

Vehemently Wil responded. "You must not deceive me, either. I will know if you've not returned The Doctor and his companion intact. If you try to trick me I will destroy everything. I will not hesitate and you will have nothing."

She clutched Rose's hand. She'd done her best.

Without warning they were back in the TARDIS. The two men were looking at Wil and Rose, who were still holding hands. The Doctor raised an eyebrow at the sight, and Jack raised both.

"Doctor!" cried Rose, as she cut herself free from Wil and ran to hug him. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am. At least I think I am. There's only one way to know for sure." He strode to the spacetime device, whipped out his sonic screwdriver and…

Jack screamed, "Doctor!"

"Oh, don't be such a worrywart, Jack. I'm reversing its configuration. Anything that doesn't belong in our version of spacetime will be expelled. There's no way anything bad could happen."

The sonic screwdriver made a soft whining noise; The Doctor abruptly fluttered his eyelashes and yelped, "Eek!" The others looked on in horror, and then in bemusement when the Time Lord laughed, "Ha! Fooled ya!"

"I'm clean," he added, turning serious. "Now it's your turn Jack."

Jack scrunched his face as he stood under the device. There was a slight whirr and The Doctor pronounced Jack clean as well. "I'm quite confident they satisfied that part of the bargain."

"Doctor," said Jack. "How much do you think they influenced us, you know, before we came here?"

"I don't think they could've made us do anything we didn't want to; we would've come for them, regardless. Seems they were mostly just along for the ride, but I believe they might have hurried us up a bit, though."

The Doctor paused and then went on, "Of course they hadn't completely 'terraformed' us; now _that_ would be a different ball of wax entirely…"

"Did you hear the conversation at the lake?" asked Wil.

"Yep, we did. You were… you were both very brave." The Doctor smiled and Wil was unaccountably happy to see his bright, shining brown eyes.

"Are they serious?"

"Deadly serious."

"Yeah," added Jack. "They just wanna have fun. And mess around. _And_ have sex. They want to mess around and have fun and sex, but not necessarily in that order. Oh, and listen to loud rock-n-roll."

The Doctor rolled his eyes but couldn't help grinning. "They are, in some ways naively child-like. They've been non-corporeal far too long. They lust after our emotions and our physicality." He shook his head.

"What are we going to do?" asked an exasperated Wil.

Jack shrugged after a tick, "I've got nothin'."

"Maybe," said Rose, "we could try to reason with them. Explain our plan and how much we want to co-exist. You know, remind them how much we have to offer."

Wil watched as The Doctor and Jacked looked at each other. Jack's eyes broke first; he bent his head and stared at the floor. She was quite certain that both were "right" again and wasn't worried about that. But something was nagging at her and she felt increasingly agitated. It was not a good sensation.

"I don't believe that's going to work, Rose," said the Doctor. "They were in our heads, following Jack and me around all that time; they know everything we were going to do and they've refused it. I don't think we can change that. We may have to give them what they want and, trusting that they'll fulfill their other part of the bargain and leave the four of us alone, hope they eventually either get bored playing around in our cosmos, or that we can find a way…"

Wil interrupted him, her agitation manifest, "Something's going on." She was staring at the manipulator. "Something is happening with the wormhole; we seem to have lost control of it.

"I think they may be coming. And if we're not ready for them, they'll destroy us."

"They may destroy us no matter what," said Jack darkly. "Something tells me they're not keeping their promise."

"Jack's right," said The Doctor. The TARDIS wasn't happy, and he felt it acutely. She'd perceived her Time Lord as being in trouble, big trouble, and had thrown herself into lockdown. He peered at the display. "The TARDIS knows we're in danger, but she doesn't see any possible way out. She's trapped in the bubble; there's nowhere to escape."

He turned and reached his hand out to Rose.

"Rose, they can destroy us, they can destroy the TARDIS, they can destroy everything in the subspace bubble, but they can't destroy the bubble itself and can't get through its barrier, Wil has made sure of that…

"We'll have done everything we could to protect the outside. But there's nothing I can do to protect us from them. The only thing I _can_ do is have the TARDIS self-destruct. I can't say with one hundred percent confidence that Jack won't continue to live, but I think the TARDIS will do what is necessary."

Rose was crying; The Doctor held her in his arms while Jack stroked her hair making hushed, comforting sounds.

Wil watched, knowing that in her life she'd never experienced acceptance and love such as she was seeing. Life had so much to offer, and while she'd had a good ride, there was a lot undone. She'd not learned to kayak. She hadn't climbed Denali. She'd had a few lovers but had never fallen _in love_, not like in the movies. Not like what she now saw in front of her. Once again, she realized she was different – an outsider – it made her feel exposed and miserable, like one of her turtles without its shell. She wondered if it was somehow her fault, if she hadn't discouraged it somehow; been too cold, too closed off. Or she had just been blind and missed it.

The Doctor was holding Rose, but he was looking at Wil, and he smiled.

Suddenly she saw herself through his eyes and all doubts, uncertainties and fears vanished.

An old Beatles song began playing in her head:

_There are places I remember  
All my life, though some have changed  
Some forever not for better  
Some have gone and some remain_

John Lennon… she recalled. Bless him. He'd died way too young.

Wil reeled to the console and placed her hand directly on the black hole manipulator.

"Not on my watch!" she snarled.

Two thin cables extended out from the manipulator and gently inserted themselves into the base of Wil's thumb. The device came free and seemed to jump into her hand. It had physically released itself from the TARDIS but the two were closely linked as ever; except now the link included her – the circle was complete.

All of this felt totally natural and correct.

She turned to gaze at The Doctor and then motioned with her free hand towards the spacetime device, still suspended by its cable from the ceiling. Its central sphere lit up with a brilliant intensity that was nearly impossible to behold. The entire room filled with the powerful white light of a thousand suns.

Wil could no longer see her friends, but she knew they were there, and that they were safe.

"Good-bye," she said. "Remember."

And then she was gone.


	18. Chapter 17

**TERRAFORM **

**SEVENTEEN**

Rose sat on the floor, cross-legged, in a small, gently lit room. The air was warm and slightly humid.

The room was also peaceful – the sounds of the TARDIS and her inhabitants could not be heard through its cushioned walls.

Instead, a Bach cello sonata was playing quietly in the background.

On her lap Rose held a glass aquarium, and she was speaking to its inhabitants.

"Your mum…" she said, "your mum is gone and she's not coming back. I'm so sorry, but I promise that you'll be taken care of properly. You'll have a good home and everything you need; I'll make sure of that. I promise, okay?"

Tears ran down her face and splashed softly into the aquarium.


	19. Chapter 18

**TERRAFORM**

**EIGHTEEN**

The Doctor was standing at the TARDIS console, gazing at the display; Jack stood behind him, peering over his shoulder.

"She went through the wormhole and took everything with her," The Doctor was explaining. "The subspace bubble is gone, so is the wormhole. We're still in orbit around the black hole, but without the manipulator we're just visitors…

"The black hole has stopped rotating. I think Wil did that, too. She guessed correctly; the very high energy gamma rays have decreased to normal levels. Life will out in this galaxy."

"What about the Terraformers?" Jack asked.

Recalling Wil's face just before she disappeared, he had a good guess in response, albeit only a guess. "Well, I could be wrong – although it's unlikely – but I believe she destroyed them."

The Doctor looked down at the keyboard. He'd been avoiding Jack's eyes because, well, if he looked into Jack's eyes he'd start crying, and if he did, then so would Jack, and that just wasn't… proper.

He started punching keys and Jack asked, "What are you doing?"

"I need to change something in the Time Lord Galactic Database. The name 'Enigma' just doesn't feel right any more. There's no longer anything particularly enigmatic about this galaxy. I was wondering… what do you think about 'Wilamena'?"

"Ha!" Jack laughed darkly. "I'm not sure she'd go for that."

The Doctor paused a moment and reflected.

"Well, then, how about the 'Brave Woman'?"

"'The Brave Woman galaxy', I like that; sounds good." The Captain's words sounded cheery enough but The Doctor could tell Jack was crying.

"Right then, I don't think the name is used elsewhere… nope." He clicked a couple more keys. "There! It's done."

Openly weeping, the Lord of Time turned to face his friend.

"Jack, I never intended…"

"I know," said Jack. "Neither of us did."

The Doctor stuck his hands deep into his pockets and scanned the TARDIS control room through tear-filled eyes.

"She took my spacetime device, too."

"Did ya ever consider," said Jack, "that might not be such a bad thing?"

The two men stood, looking at each other. There was really nothing else left to say.


	20. Chapter 19

**TERRAFORM **

**NINETEEN**

Ianto Jones placed a small wrapped parcel on Jack's desk and quietly explained, "Special delivery. Organic turtle food."

Jack smiled wanly at Ianto and looked at the aquarium sitting in front of him.

"Well, um, I'll check on you later then, Captain." Ianto padded out of the office and noiselessly shut the door.

Jack Harkness folded his arms on his desk, lowered his head onto them and closed his eyes.

**FINIS**

_Hokay – well… so ends part two of my story. What do you think? Do you want to know what happens next? If so, read the next in the series: "Evolution"._

_TTFN!_


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